Free cash is too good to be true

It still amazes me how many people will fall for age-old scams when alarms and whistles should be sounding in their heads before they even consider sending money to complete strangers.

Whether it?s financial desperation, shortage of good common sense, or just good old greed, folks seem to fall for these over and over again despite repeated warnings, many printed in our fine publication. Bottom line folks, is if it is too good to be true, it always is.

There is no exception to the rule that nothing is free. Folks will never, and I mean never, contact you randomly over the Internet, by mail or by telephone to give you even $5, let alone millions of dollars. You aren?t the exception to the rule. Your ship has not come in. Instead, it?s more like your number has come up, especially if you start sending out cash or account information to these professional conmen who will no doubt spend your hard-earned money on liquor and ladies, laughing all the way to the bank.

If you get an offer that is too good to be true, the best thing to do is ignore it. Don?t write back or e-mail back because then you are nibbling the bait, letting them know they have a live one on the line. These guys are real good at what they do and have an answer to every question. The only bad part is their answers are lies to get your money.

There?s a blue million of them out there. You have my favorite, the Nigerian Scam, where the Royal family of Nigeria wants to entrust you with millions in cash provided you will permit your bank account to hold some of their assets. What really happens is that you send them your account information and they clean out your account. No millions, no date at the imperial Nigerian table. All you get is bounced checks and the word ?Sucker? engraved across your forehead.

Then, for you lottery enthusiasts we have the Canadian Lottery Scam where you receive a notification that you?ve won thousands in a lottery which you never even entered. All you have to do is send them a certain amount of money after they send you an impressive-looking check. The problem is the check is always worthless and by the time the bank finds out, your money, which you sent to them for processing fees, is already gone with the wind.

First off, it?s hard enough for a person to win $2 in the Tennessee Lottery let alone be chosen at random to receive thousands by a foreign lottery. Plus, there?s no lottery ever which makes you pay up front to get your cash. If you do ever win big in the state lottery you will be directed to the lottery office in Nashville where you will be given your check, already minus taxes, without any money out of pocket outside the overpriced gasoline it?ll take to get there.

There are endless variations on these two common cons as they don?t have to originate out of Africa or Canada. However, they have one thing in common. They both target your wallet. And, very few of these conmen ever get caught so once your money is gone, there?s virtually no chance of getting it back.

Frankly, I?ve got mixed feelings about people who fall for such scams. On one hand I think if they are such a sucker they?d end up losing their money somewhere even if they didn?t fall for the scam. But, on the other hand, it?s sad to see trusting people taken advantage of by lowlifes who couldn?t care less.

If you want to protect yourself, never respond to unsolicited offers. If you do, be prepared to part with your money.

Duane Sherrill is a reporter for the Standard. He can be reached at 473-2191 or by e-mail at [email protected].